Fences are in common use for defining property boundaries, for the containment of animals, for decorative purposes, and so on. It is a common chore for ranchers, farmers and homeowners to install fencing on their property. While fences take on a wide plurality of forms, a common type of fence is comprised of a plurality of spaced-apart, ground supported posts and a plurality of fence rails supported on the posts and which form a barrier. The posts are plumb and typically all of a common height. Over the centuries fence posts have been manufactured from a wide variety of materials including unprocessed sticks and tree limbs, various wooden configurations manufactured by conventional wood processing techniques, metal tubes formed from iron, steel, and other metals, etc.
Typically, a modern fence post is constructed of steel or other durable material. Such posts may be subjected to severe loads such as those resulting from cattle contacting fencing which results in bending of the fence posts to enable escape of stock. It may be necessary that corner posts and some fence posts have additional bracing against the tension of the fence, strung thereon or around the post to prevent collapse of the fence when the wire is tensioned as by an animal attempting to cross the boundary line.
Bracing for the fence posts and corner fence posts must be solid if the fence wire is to maintain its tension over a period of time.